John McCain was an American politician and military officer who served as a United States Senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the United States House of Representatives and was the Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 election. During the Vietnam War , he was almost killed in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire . While on a bombing mission during Operation Rolling Thunder over Hanoi in October 1967, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured ...